Filed To Story: The Broken-Hearted She and The Icy He Book PDF Free
The hatch had been opened. James’s voice grew louder, clearer.
Hearing his urgent tone, seeing him rush down the steps into the basement, Lily’s eyes blurred with tears.
She summoned all her strength and bit Jerry’s hand-hard.
As he cried out in pain, she shoved him away with everything she had and shouted, “James, I’m here!”
“Lily…”
When Jenn opened the hatch, James saw a sliver of hope-but also the edge of a nightmare.
He was terrified that what waited for him below was nothing but a cold, lifeless corpse.
But then he heard her voice. Then he saw her face-the one he’d longed for, day and night.
And this man, usually so hard and unshakable, felt his eyes sting with tears.
He charged toward her like a gale of wind and wrapped her in a fierce, unrelenting embrace. The overwhelming relief of getting her back made his eyes burn.
And he didn’t want to ever let go again.
“James…”
Feeling the warmth of his arms around her, Lily couldn’t stop the sobs from choking her voice.
She knew-they were already divorced. He didn’t love her like that anymore. It wasn’t right for her to hold onto him so shamelessly.
But she missed him so much. She didn’t care. She clung to him even tighter.
The sudden rush of people into the basement left Ben and Jerry frozen in shock.
Once they recovered, they instinctively tried to grab Lily as a hostage. It was their only shot at escape.
But James was too fast. Before they could even lift a hand, he’d already pulled Lily firmly into his arms. They lunged forward instinctively desperate to reclaim the woman they’d spent tens of thou
But James didn’t flinch.
Is to buy.
He held Lily close, seemingly unaware of their approach-until the moment they lunged.
Then, in a flash of brutal force, he kicked them both to the ground.
“Hold them down!”
On James’s command, Ashton and the others surged forward, beat the two men to the floor, and pinned them down with ruthless force.
Ben and Jerry twisted and struggled, but they couldn’t get back up.
“Sharon…”
There was no sign of Sharon anywhere-in the yard or inside the house.
Jenn felt sure she had to be in the basement.
After all, in those early years when they still had contact, Sharon had spent most of her days chained up down there.
Jenn thought-hoped-that by storming into the basement, she would find her.
But after scanning every inch, again and again, there was no sign of her friend.
A dreadful premonition swelled inside Jenn.
But even then, she clung to a sliver of hope.
She kicked Ben hard in the face, her voice hoarse with desperation. “Where’s Sharon? You monsters- where the hell did you hide her?”
Getting hit by a woman made a flash of viciousness flicker in Ben’s shadowed eyes.
If Jenn had stormed into the basement alone, he and Jerry would’ve made her beg for death.
He’d have whispered in the cruelest voice imaginable that her precious friend Sharon had been slowly tortured to death, her skin and flesh peeled away bit by bit-what remained of her body dumped right there in the basement.
By now, all that would be left were bones.
But James… even though they didn’t know who he was, one look at him told them he wasn’t someone to cross. His presence was terrifying. And he hadn’t come alone-he had cops with him. There was no way Ben was going to confess to murder in front of the police.
So he feigned ignorance. “That bitch was always trying to run. How the hell should I know where she ended up?”
Jerry, terrified the police would find out what they did to Sharon, quickly added, “Yeah, that whore ran off ages ago!”
“No way!”
Jenn wanted-more than anything-for Sharon to be safe, to have escaped these monsters.
But she’d known Sharon for years. She knew her better than anyone.
Sharon was a good girl, kind and loyal. If she had really escaped this hellhole, there was no way she would’ve left Jenn behind.
Jenn stomped on Ben’s face with all her strength. “Tell me now-where the hell is Sharon?”
Upstairs, Lily had heard everything clearly.
She knew that James had found her so quickly thanks to the girl downstairs-the one covered in wounds. She could guess that this girl had also been trafficked to the village.
Lily hoped she and her friend could both escape safely.
But in her heart, she knew the truth.
That pile of bones in the corner… it was most likely Sharon.
Grief and pity filled her chest. But sometimes, the only thing they could do was face reality-and speak the truth, to make sure the monsters paid for their crimes.
Swallowing back tears, Lily took a shaky breath and rasped, “Those two animals said they tortured the last girl they bought to death.”
Her chest grew tighter as she spoke, her voice thick with sorrow. “The pile of bones in the corner-that’s her.”
“What?”
Time seemed to slow for Jenn.
Just turning around felt like it drained her of every ounce of strength.
She turned… and there they were. Bones. A pile of deformed white bones in the corner.
And beside them, a wooden safety charm-warped, its surface soaked in old, dried blood.
Sharon had been deeply in love with her boyfriend, Charles. He’d given her that charm after she’d been in a car accident.
He wanted her to recover, to live a long life.
But the girl he’d held so dearly in his hands… hadn’t made it.
When Jenn had rushed into the basement earlier, her eyes had been red, tears streaming down her face. Now, staring at the bloodstained charm and those bones, she suddenly couldn’t cry anymore.
Her fingers trembled as she clutched the charm tightly, whispering over and over, “Sharon, wake up…”
“You loved Charles so much. He’s probably still looking for you, still waiting for you. Don’t you want to go back to him? Please, wake up…”
But Sharon…
She had closed her eyes for good two years ago.
Her body had long since turned to bones. She would never wake again.
And Jenn-Jenn was drowning in hate.
Five years ago, a kind old woman in the village had secretly given her and Sharon a hand-drawn map and a bottle of sleeping pills.
She’d told them there was a new forest ranger stationed at the marked spot-someone who associate with the village men. He could help them call the police.
All they had to do was drug the men who kept them prisoner and sneak away under cover of night.
At the time, they’d trusted Mathilda. She’d shared their fate. She’d cried and begged them to take her with them.
So they told her the plan.
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.